Sprinkler



March 21, 1961 H, l. COCKMAN SPRINKLER Filed July 7, 1959 INVENTOR./MM/f 1. 606/074 A'UO/PIVH SPRINKLER Haggis I. Cockman, R0. Box 656,Sanford, Fla.

Filed July 7, 1959, Ser. No. 325,569

1 Claim. (Cl. 239--383) This invention relates to sprinklers andparticularly to a sprinkler adapted to the distribution of water tolawns for agricultural irrigation.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved sprinkler.

A specific object of the invention is to provide a sprinkler of simpleand inexpensive construction which will operate to distribute waterevenly over a wide area, which is trouble-free and which closes andopens automatically.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of thisinvention are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its organization and method ofoperation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a sprinkler in accord with the invention,the sprinkler being closed with the Water turned off;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line, 22'of Fig. 4, the sprinklerbeing closed as in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view but showing the sprinkler open asduring operation thereof;

Pig. 4 is a plan view of the sprinkler;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank for forming the cover and spinnermember of the sprinkler;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an element embodied in the rotor of thesprinkler; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view corresponding generally to the views of Figs.2 and 3 but showing a sprinkler of modified construction.

As seen in Fig. l, the sprinkler comprises a hollow stem 1 adapted toreceive water under pressure, a sleeve or cap 2 mounted on the stern,and a sheet metal closure member 3 having a fiat central portion 4closing the upper end 5 of the cap and having reaction vane portions 6and 7 extending outwardly of and curved downwardly from the centralportion.

The closure member 3 is attached by means of outwardly crimped leg ends8 and 9, as best seen in Fig. 2, to the upper end of a rotor 10 which isdisposed in the vertical cylindrical bore 11 of the cap 2.. The cap 2 iscounterbored and widens out into an enlarged diameter cavity 12 towardits lower end 13, the cavity joining bore 11, or being separatedtherefrom, by a shoulder 14 defining the upper end of the cavity. Thestem 1 is threadedly attached as at 15 to the cap 2, and the upper end16 of the stem forms the lower end of cavity 12 in the assembled device.

Rotor 10 comprises a hollow cylindrical barrel portion 17 having a boreor passage 17' extending vertically therethrough with an outwardlyextending lip ring 18 at its lower end, the diameter of the ring 18being greater than the internal diameter of the smaller diameter bore 11and less than that of the larger diameter counterbore of cavity 12 ofcap 2 whereby the ring has a bear- 2,75,981 Patented Mar. 21, 1961 2 ingat 19 against the shoulder 14 when the sprinkler is operative as shownin Fig. 3.

The sprinkler includes suitable means, such as. screw threads 20, forattachment to an external standpipe or other mounting and source ofwater under pressure, and when water under pressure is supplied into thebore 21 of stem 1, the rotor 10 is forced upwardly into the operativeposition of Fig. 3, the cover plate 3- being raised above upper end 5 ofthe cap, discharge apertures, such as aperture 22., being exposed aboveand 5, and ring 18 being engaged against shoulder 14 to limit the upwarddisplacement of the rotor and to form a hearing. The Water pressureintroduced through the bore 21 of the stem is applied under ring 18 andunder the central portion 4 of cover plate 3 and in each case providesraising force to the rotor. Water issues from the aperture 22, and froman opposite identical aperture, below the cover plate and in a generallyhorizontal direction and the issuing stream contact or play against therespective downwardly curled reaction vanes 6 and 7.

A comparison of Figs. 1 and 4 will show that the plate 6 extendshorizontally outwardly from its center portion =4 in opposite directionswhich are aligned with the streams which issue from the dischargeapertures. The flat outwardly extending arm portions 23 and 24 of theplate, accordingly, lie immediately above the water streams. The endportions of these arms are curled downwardly to form vanes '6 and 7which extend in a generally diagonal direction across a portion off therespective stream. Specifically, the stream issuing under arm ,23 takessubstantially the direction and form indicated between broken lines 25and 26 in Fig. 4, and a part of the stream is seen to be directed atvane 6, while a part of the stream adjacent line 26 would freely pass anedge of the vane at 27 except that deflection of'the stream by the vanecauses the whole stream to be deflected. In other words, the portions ofthe stream adjacent line 25 are deflected into the portions adjacentline 26. The amount of deflection of the streams by the vanes 6 and 7depends upon the angle of the vanes with respect to the direction of thestreams, the extent to which the vane engages the stream, the speed ofrotation of the rotor and on other factors, while" the distance to whichthe streams reach and the overall spray pattern depend on similarfactors and on the pressure of the water supplied. The cover plate isformed of a sheet or thin plate metal, such as brass or copper sheet,which can be bent to suit the particular requirements of eachinstallation.

If the spray pattern has less than the desired diameter, the vanes areslightly unrolled. If the ground area within the outer diameter of thespray receives too little water, the vanes, or at least one of them, arerolled tighter and curved further into the stream path. Contact of thestreams with the vanes spreads the streams vertically and provides aspray which covers the area with substantially equal amounts of water oneach square foot of the area.

It will be noted that the vanes are curved into generally cylindricalshape and that they are tapered in width providing respective narrow,pointed tip ends 28, 29 which curl under the respective stream of water,whereby the vanes have some of the characteristics of nozzles.

The construction of the sprinkler will be further understood from theplan view of a blank 30 for the cover plate shown in Fig. 5. The arm.portions 23 and 24 extend outwardly from central portion 4,terminating'in tapered tips 28 and 29. Broken lines 31 and 32 indicatethe location at which the curling of the arms to form the vanes shouldstart. Lines 31 and 32 correspond, accordingly, with the locations soidentified in Fig. 1 on the completed and assembled device.

The blank 30 as further seen in Fig. has two slots 33 and 34 in thecentral portion 4 arranged to receive the leg ends 8 and 9,respectively, of the rotor 10, as hereinabove explained.

The rotor as shown in Fig. 6 comprises a main body or barrel portion 35having a smooth vertical cylindrical outer surface 36 and a verticallyextending bore or passage 17' therethrough. The outwardly extending lipring 18 at the lower end of the rotor is preferably formed integrallytherewith. At the upper end, a slot 37 passes laterally through therotor dividing the upper end into a pair of opposite legs 38 and 39, andthe uppermost ends of the legs are reduced to form the bendable tips,such as tip 9 terminating at its lower end in shoulder 40 against whichplate 3 rests. The tips are proportioned to fit snugly through therespective plate openings 33 and 34, and the plate is rigidly held downagainst shoulder 40, and the corresponding shoulder of leg 38, when thetips are crirnped outwardly above the plate as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The slot 37 extends below the level of shoulder 40 to form dischargeaperture 22 and its opposite aperture 41. These apertures are completelyhoused within sleeve 2 when the sprinkler is at rest, as in Fig. 2, butare exposed above the upper end 5 of the sleeve when water pressure isapplied to raise the rotor into the position of Fig. 3.

The modified sprinkler of Fig. 7 comprises a hollow stem 51, which maybe identical to that shown in the first embodiment at 1, and a sleeve52, a rotor 53 and a cover plate 54 which correspond generally withelements 2, 10 and 3, respectively, of the first embodiment. Sleeve 52screws to stem 51 and has a cylindrical vertical bore 55 in whichcylindrical rotor 53 is 'rotatably and slideably disposed. In thearrangement of Fig. 7, no lip ring is required at the lower end of rotor53, nor is a counterbored cavity required as at 12 in Fig. 2.

The bore or passage 56 which extends upwardly in rotor 53 communicateswith a pair of opposed discharge apertures, of which aperture 57 isshown. These apertures may be circular openings drilled through therotor as seen in Fig. 7, and the upper end of the rotor may be closed asat 58, in which case the cover plate 54 is held to the rotor by means ofa hexagonal head screw 59 threaded into the upper end of the rotor.Alternatively, the upper end of the rotor may beformed with legs and thecover plate held thereto precisely as shown and described in connectionwith the first embodiment. It will be understood that the upper end ofthe rotor of the first embodiment may be modified to accord preciselywith the arrangement of Fig. 7, that, in other words, the arrangementwhich provides the discharge apertures and the connection of the coverplate to the rotor may be in accord with Figs. 16 or with Fig. 7,regardless of whether the remainder of the construction accords withFigs. l-6 or with Fig. 7, each having certain advantages which will beapparent to those skilled in the art.

The cover plate 54 may correspond precisely with the corresponding plate3 of the first embodiment with the sole exception that the openings '33and 34 of plate 3 are omitted and a central opening 60 is provided, asshown in Fig. 7, to receive screw 59. A stifi but resilient wireretainer element or fixed bearing member 61 holds the rotor assembly inplace in the Fig. 7 construction. The wire is formed to have a loop 62which encircles and clamps onto the sleeve 52 and engages in an externalperipheral groove 63 of the sleeve. The wire is thus normally heldrigidly to the sleeve subject to removal when desired by springing openthe loop 62. The retainer 61, anchored at its portion 62, extendsupwardly and outwardly to clear the rotative path of the spinner plate54 and has a downwardly directed tip at 64 which is disposed in axialalignment with bore 55 and rotor 53 above the center of plate 5'4 inposition to be engaged by bolt 59 when the rotor and plate are inoperative raised position, with water flowing, shown in full lines inFig. 7. As with the first embodiment, the rotor drops when the water isturned off, the rotor and plate then assuming the lowered positionsindicated by broken lines at 65 and 66, respectively. When in loweredposition, plate 54 seals against the upper end 67 of sleeve 52 therebyclosing bore 55 against entry of dust or dirt; Tip 64 remains stationaryupon dropping of the rotor assembly. When the rotor rises as a result ofwater pressure supplied through stem 51, tip 64 is engaged by a portionof the rotor assembly, such as bolt 59, and serves as a thrust bearingretaining the rotor in sleeve 52. This arrangement, accordingly,provides a thrust bearing between a downwardly facing bearing portion 64fixed to and comprising an extended part of the stationary sleeve 52 anda rotating, upwardly facing thrust bearing surface or element portion 59of the rotor, taking the upward thrust of the rotor, and it will beunderstood that this arrangement of the modification of Fig. 7 servesgenerally the same function as the internal thrust bearing arrangement,comprising upwardly facing, rotating bearing element 18, 19 and thedownwardly facing fixed bearing element 14 of the embodiment shown inFigs. 2 and 3, specifically in that in each case the bearing arrangementpermits free rotation of the rotor and limits-the upward movement of therotor to a position in which the discharge apertures are exposed abovethe upper end of the sleeve.

While only certain preferred embodiments of this invention have beenshown and described by way of illustration, many modifications willoccur to those skilled in the art and it is, therefore, desired that itbe understood that it is intended in the appended claim to cover allsuch modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of thisinvention.

What is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by LettersPatent of the United States is:

A sprinkler comprising an upright hollow sleeve having an upper end anda lower end and with a vertical cylindrical bore opening through saidends, a hollow cylindrical rotor slideably and rotatively fitted in saidbore, said rotor having an upper end portion and a lower end and beingslideable from a rest position in which said upper end portion is housedwithin said bore to an extended active position in which said upper endportion projects above said upper end of said sleeve, a horizontal coverplate fixed to said upper end portion of said rotor in position to reston said upper end of said sleeve, said upper end portion being providedwith outwardly directed discharge outlets arranged below said coverplate and communicating with the hollow interior of said rotor, saidcover plate extending outwardly and having downwardly curved endportions spaced outwardly of and opposite respective ones of saiddischarge outlets, an upwardly facing thrust bearing surface on an upperexterior portion of said rotor and a cooperating fixed hearing memberhaving a resilient band portion supportedly surrounding said sleeve anda bearing portion disposed spacedly above said rotor bearing surfacewhen said rotor is in said rest position and engaged in bearing contactwith said bearing surface when said rotor is in said active position,said lower end of said sleeve extending below said lower end of saidrotor, and being adapted and arranged for connection to an external

